Text and Illustration from HOLY CARD HEAVEN
unless otherwise stated.
THE MOST HIGH HAS SANCTIFIED HIS TABERNACLE.
LE TRES HAUT A SANCTIFIE SON TABERNACLE.
~ Psalm 45.
She is a garden enclosed and a sealed fountain.
C'est ici, le Jardin fermé et la fontaine scellée.
~ Song of Songs.
Open to me your Immaculate Heart, O Mary.
I have chosen it as home.
Ouvrez-moi votre Coeur Immaculé, O Marie.
Je l'ai choisi pour demeure.
English: Stained-Glass Window, from 1887, showing The Immaculate Conception.
South Chapel, Church of Campagne, Dordogne, France.
Français: Vitrail de 1887 représentant l'Immaculée Conception, chapelle sud de l'église de Campagne, Dordogne, France.Photo: 28 September 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Père Igor.
(Wikimedia Commons)
During the Reign of Pope Gregory XVI, 1831-1846, the Bishops in various countries began to press for a definition as Dogma of the Teaching of Mary's Immaculate Conception.
In 1839, Mariano Spada (1796 - 1872), Professor of Theology at The Roman College of Saint Thomas, published Esame Critico sulla dottrina dell’ Angelico Dottore S. Tommaso di Aquino circa il Peccato originale, relativamente alla Beatissima Vergine Maria [A critical examination of the Doctrine of Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Doctor, regarding Original Sin, with respect to The Most Blessed Virgin Mary], in which Aquinas is interpreted, not as treating the question of The Immaculate Conception, later formulated in The Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus, but, rather, The Sanctification of The Foetus within Mary's womb. Spada furnished an interpretation, whereby Pope Pius IX was relieved of the problem of seeming to foster a Doctrine not in agreement with the Aquinas' Teaching. Pope Pius IX would later appoint Spada as Master of The Sacred Palace in 1867.
Pope Pius IX, at the beginning of his Pontificate, and again after 1851, appointed Commissions to investigate the whole subject, and he was advised that the Doctrine was one which could be Defined and that the time for a Definition was opportune.
English: Detail of Stained-Glass Window, showing Mary Immaculate,
Church of Saint Thomas, Excideuil, Dordogne, France.
Français: Détail d'un vitrail représentant sainte Marie,
église Saint-Thomas, Excideuil, Dordogne, France.
Photo: 2 March 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Père Igor.
(Wikimedia Commons)
We declare, pronounce and define that the Doctrine which holds that The Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and Grace of The Omnipotent God, in virtue of the Merits of Jesus Christ, The Saviour of Mankind, was preserved Immaculate from all stain of Original Sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all The Faithful.—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854.
Proclamation of The Dogma of The Immaculate Conception,
by Pope Pius IX, on 8 December 1854. Stained-Glass Window, Church of Bécherel, France.
Also depicted is Godefroy Brossay-Saint-Marc, Archbishop of Rennes.
Photo: 8 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: GO69.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Godefroy Brossay-Saint-Marc, first Archbishop of Rennes (see illustration, above),
made a Cardinal (Titulus Santa Maria della Vittoria) in the Consistory
of 17 September 1875, received the Galero of Pope Pius IX.
Detail of Stained-Glass Window in the Church of
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Pire-sur-Seiche, France.
Photo: 8 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: GO69.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Papal definition of the Dogma declares, with absolute certainty and authority, that Mary possessed Sanctifying Grace from the first instant of her existence, and was free from the lack of Grace, caused by the Original Sin, at the beginning of human history. Mary's Salvation was won by her Son, Jesus Christ, through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and was not due to her own merits.
